JP2008150125A - Levitation conveying device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a levitation conveying device capable of finely adjusting the conveying speed of a conveyed material with a method except adjustment of the air jet pressure. <P>SOLUTION: In this levitation conveying device for conveying a thin plate-like conveyed material w along a conveying path, levitating it, a plate 23 arranged along the conveying path is formed with air jet holes 23a for jetting air to levitate the conveyed material over the whole surface, and a speed adjusting air jet unit 7 is provided to accelerate/decelerate the conveyed material in the conveying direction by jetting air to the lower surface of the conveyed material. A plurality of air jet units 7 are provided along the conveying path outside the plate, possibly to adjust the air jet angle in relation to the conveyed material. In a travelling starting part 1, the air jet unit 7 is provided to jet the air forward in the conveying direction of the conveyed material, and in a travelling stop part 3, the air jet unit 7 is provided to jet the air backward in the conveying direction of the conveyed material. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a levitating and conveying apparatus capable of levitating and conveying a thin plate-like object to be conveyed such as a glass plate while adjusting the speed.

  As a transport device for transporting the object to be transported, for example, as shown in Patent Document 1, a large number of bar-shaped transport rollers disposed horizontally in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction are disposed in the transport direction. Is used. According to this transport apparatus, the transported object is transported in the transport direction by rotating the transport roller so that the placement surface of the transported object moves in the transport direction.

  However, when the object to be conveyed moves on the conveying roller, there is a possibility that the object to be conveyed is damaged by the conveying roller, or that foreign matter adhering to the surface of the conveying roller is transferred to the object to be conveyed. For this reason, particularly when the object to be conveyed is a glass plate for a display panel or the like, there has been a problem that scratches or foreign matter may cause a product defect.

  In recent years, therefore, a levitation conveyance device has been developed as a conveyance device that ejects air and conveys an object to be conveyed while floating (for example, Patent Document 2). In this levitation conveyance device, an air ejection hole for levitating the object to be conveyed and an air ejection hole for advancing the object to be conveyed along the conveyance path are formed on a plate having a thick plate in appearance. There is no risk of the transported object being damaged or the transfer of foreign matter to the transported object by the transport roller.

  However, since this levitation transport device cannot adjust the angle of the ejection hole, the only way to adjust the transport speed of the transported object is to adjust the air ejection pressure amount and accelerate the transported object. In this case, a large amount of air is unnecessarily ejected, resulting in problems that energy efficiency is poor and fine adjustment of the conveying speed is difficult only by increasing or decreasing the ejection pressure.

JP 2005-194060 A JP 2004-345814 A

  This invention is made | formed in view of this situation, and makes it a subject to provide the levitation conveyance apparatus which can finely adjust the conveyance speed of a to-be-conveyed object by methods other than adjustment of air ejection pressure.

  That is, the invention according to claim 1 is a levitation conveyance device that conveys a thin plate-shaped object to be conveyed along a conveyance path while levitating the plate, and the plate is disposed over the entire surface along the conveyance path. A speed-adjusting air ejector that is formed with an air ejection hole for levitating the object to be conveyed and that injects air toward the lower surface of the object to be conveyed and accelerates or decelerates the object to be conveyed in the conveying direction. Are provided on the outside of the plate along the transport path so that the air ejection angle with respect to the transported object can be adjusted.

  Further, the invention according to claim 2 is the levitation conveyance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the speed adjustment air ejector blows air toward a traveling start portion of the conveyance path toward a conveyance direction of the object to be conveyed. It is provided so that it may be ejected, and it is provided so that air may be ejected to the back of the conveyance direction of the above-mentioned to-be-conveyed object at the travel stop part of the above-mentioned conveyance path.

  Further, the invention according to claim 3 is the levitation conveyance apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the speed adjusting air ejector of the travel activation unit is in a direction in which the air ejection direction is perpendicular to the surface of the plate. It is characterized by being installed at an angle of 15 ° or more and 75 ° or less.

According to the levitation conveyance apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, a conveyance path is formed outside the plate while the object to be conveyed is levitated by air ejected from an air ejection hole formed on the entire surface of the plate. The speed adjustment air ejector provided so that the air ejection angle with respect to the object to be conveyed can be adjusted along the direction of the object can be accelerated and decelerated in the conveying direction.
For this reason, it is possible to finely adjust the transport speed of the object to be transported by adjusting the air ejection angle of the speed adjustment air ejector, and unnecessarily increase the amount of air ejection when accelerating the transport speed. And the object to be conveyed can be conveyed.

  Therefore, as in the invention described in claim 2, the speed adjusting air ejector is provided so that air is ejected toward the transport direction in the travel starting part of the transport path, thereby conveying the object to be transported to the transport path. In addition to being able to be accelerated and advanced along the direction, the object to be conveyed is gradually decelerated and stopped by providing air at the traveling stop portion of the conveyance path so as to eject air toward the rear in the conveyance direction. be able to.

  At that time, the speed adjusting air jet of the travel starting part is 15 ° or more with respect to the direction perpendicular to the surface of the plate and 75 ° as in the invention of claim 3. By installing so that it may become the following angles, a to-be-conveyed object can be accelerated rapidly toward a conveyance direction.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the best embodiment of a levitation transport apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the levitation transport apparatus of the present embodiment is configured by a travel starter 1, a traveler 2, and a travel stop 3, and a glass plate w as a transported object is provided. A transport path for transporting from the travel start unit 1 to the travel stop unit 3 via the travel unit 2 is formed.

  The travel activation unit 1 includes an aluminum frame 11 having a substantially rectangular cylindrical shape that is horizontally disposed on a hollow base 4 supported on a floor in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction. A plurality of them are arranged in parallel, and are integrally provided by a joining member such as a bolt and a nut. On the aluminum frame 11, a plurality of aluminum frames (plates) 12 bridged in the conveying direction are horizontally installed on both the left and right sides in the width direction of the conveying path, and bolts, nuts, etc. Are integrally provided by the joining member.

  Each of the aluminum frames 12 has an internal space hermetically provided to form a chamber 41, and jet holes are formed at equal intervals on the entire upper surface. In addition, a porous pad is laid to cover the ejection hole, an O-ring is interposed on the outer periphery of the ejection hole between the porous pad and the aluminum frame 12, and the porous pad is placed on the aluminum frame 12. The fixing ring 13 is installed so that the air ejected from the ejection holes is diffused by the porous pad and ejected upward. The fixing ring 13 has an upper surface fixing portion 13a in which a circular opening leading to the ejection hole is formed at the center of the disc, and projects from the outer periphery of the upper surface fixing portion 13a toward the aluminum frame 12, It is comprised by the cylindrical side wall part 13b provided integrally.

  On the other hand, in the base 4, air volume adjustment dampers 42 corresponding to the respective chambers 41 are installed in parallel in the conveyance path width direction, and the aluminum frames 12 are provided from both ends of the respective dampers 42. Ducts 43 are connected to the both ends of the chamber, respectively, so that air having a predetermined pressure is supplied into each chamber 41. As a result, air is ejected upward from the ejection holes of the aluminum frame 12 and is released from the opening of the fixing ring 13 while being diffused by the porous pad, whereby the glass plate w is floated. .

  On the other hand, a plurality of speed adjusting air ejectors 7 for ejecting air toward the transport direction are provided along the aluminum frame 12 at the center in the width direction of the transport path and at both left and right ends in the width direction. ing. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, these speed-adjusting air ejectors 7 are each formed with an L-shaped flow channel 71 in an air ejector main body 70 having a substantially rectangular plate shape in appearance, and an upper portion thereof. An ejection hole 71 a communicating with the flow path 71 is formed, and a pipe joint 72 is connected to the other end portion of the flow path 71 and is schematically configured. A pipe (not shown) for supplying air whose pressure is adjusted to each pipe joint 72 is provided independently from a mechanism for supplying air to the aluminum frame 12 such as the duct 43 and the air volume adjusting damper 42. The adjusted air ejector 7 constitutes an individual unit for every fixed number of units.

  The plurality of air ejectors 7 constituting one unit are each in the conveying direction on the aluminum frame 11 with the flat plate surface lower part 70a of the air ejector body 70 in contact with one side surface of the air ejector body 70. One elongate connecting plate fixed to one supporting plate 73 fixed toward the surface and movably arranged with the upper portion of the flat plate contacting the other side surface of the air ejector body 70 74 is fixed. Further, the rotating mechanism 8 is connected to one air ejector body 70 fixed to each connecting plate 74.

  As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the rotating mechanism 8 includes a worm wheel 81 that is connected to the air ejector body 70 through a support plate 73 and a helical tooth that meshes with the worm wheel 81. And an adjusting tool 82 having an elongated worm 82a formed in the direction. The adjuster 82 is provided with a handle 82b at the lower portion thereof. When the handle 82b is driven to rotate, the worm 82a is moved in the vertical direction, and the worm wheel 81 is rotated to thereby connect the connected air. The ejector body 70 rotates at a constant angle around the lower part 70a. Then, by rotating the connected one air ejector body 70, the connecting plate 74 is moved, and the other air ejector bodies 70 are rotated by the same angle around the lower portion 70a. ing. Thereby, each air ejector main body 70 is disposed with a straight portion of the flow path 71 on the ejection hole 71a side being disposed at a predetermined angle of 30 ° or more and 60 ° or less with respect to the vertical line. Yes.

  Next, the traveling unit 2 includes an aluminum frame 21 having a substantially rectangular cylindrical shape arranged in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction in parallel with the transport direction in the upper part of the hollow base 5 supported on the floor. A plurality of them are provided and integrally provided by a joining member such as a bolt and a nut. On these aluminum frames 21, a plurality of horizontal plate-like deck boards 22 are arranged in series in the conveyance direction at both the left and right portions in the width direction of the conveyance path. Each deck board 22 has an ejection hole 22a formed on the entire surface, and a flat bottomed cylindrical body 23 disposed along the conveyance path is integrally provided at the lower portion, and a horizontal plate together with the bottomed cylindrical body 23. Is configured. Each bottomed cylindrical body 23 is provided with a plurality of air introduction portions 23a along the conveyance path at the center in the width direction, and an internal space between the deck board 22 and the chamber 51 is formed in an airtight manner. Has been.

  On the other hand, a plurality of air volume adjustment dampers 52 corresponding to the respective chambers 51 are installed in parallel in the width direction of the conveyance path in the base 5, and each air is supplied from both ends of each of the dampers 52. Ducts (not shown) are connected to the introduction portions 23a, respectively, so that air having a predetermined pressure is supplied into each chamber 51. As a result, air is ejected upward from the ejection holes 22a of the deck board 22, and the ejected air is brought into direct contact with the glass plate w so as to be conveyed to the travel stop unit 3 while the glass plate w is floated. It has become.

  Next, similarly to the traveling unit 2, the traveling stop unit 3 is formed on the upper part of the hollow base 6 supported on the floor, and has a substantially rectangular cylindrical aluminum frame 31 arranged in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction. Are arranged in parallel in the transport direction and are integrally provided by a joining member such as a bolt and a nut. In addition, one plate-like deck board 32 is horizontally disposed on each of the aluminum frames 31 at the left and right portions in the width direction of the conveyance path. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, each deck board 32 has an ejection hole 32 a formed on the entire surface, and a flat bottomed cylindrical body 33 disposed along the conveyance path at the lower part thereof. Thus, a horizontal plate is formed together with the bottomed cylindrical body 33. In addition, each deck board 32 is provided with a resin sheet (not shown) made of Teflon (registered trademark, the same applies hereinafter) for preventing the glass plate w from being damaged when the glass plate w stops. As with the bottomed cylinder 23, the bottomed cylinder 33 is provided with a plurality of air introduction portions 33 a, and a chamber 61 is formed between the bottomed cylinder 33 and the deck board 32.

  On the other hand, in the base 6, similarly to the base 5, air volume adjustment dampers 62 corresponding to the respective chambers 61 are installed, and ducts are provided from both ends of the respective dampers 62 to the respective air introduction parts 33 a. 63 is connected so that air having a predetermined pressure is supplied into each chamber 61. As a result, air is ejected upward from the ejection holes 32a of the deck board 32, and the ejected air is brought into contact with the glass plate w through the resin sheet, so that the glass plate w is floated.

  On the other hand, in the unit of the speed adjusting air ejector 7, the ejector main body 70 conveys the ejection hole 71 a toward the front part in the conveying direction by the rotation mechanism 8 from the above-described traveling activation unit 1 to the traveling activation unit 1 side of the traveling unit 2. It is arrange | positioned at the center part and both ends of the width direction of a path | route.

  The units of the ejector 7 are disposed between the deck boards 22 and 32 and on both sides of the traveling unit 2 from the traveling stop unit 3 side to the traveling stop unit 3. These units are arranged so that the ejector 7 is line-symmetric with respect to the transverse line at the central part in the transport direction with respect to the unit arranged in the traveling part 2 from the traveling activation part 1 described above. 8 is arranged so that the ejection hole 71a is directed rearward in the transport direction.

  As a result, the levitating and conveying apparatus causes the glass plate w to float in the travel starting unit 1, accelerates in the transport direction, transports the glass plate w to the travel stop unit 3 while floating in the travel unit 2, and travels to the travel stop unit. 3 is decelerated while ascending and stopped.

Next, an operation when the glass plate w having an outer shape of 1950 mm × 2250 mm and a thickness of 0.7 mm is transferred using the above-described levitation transfer apparatus will be described.
First, by rotating the handle body 82b of the ejector body 70 of the speed adjusting air ejector 7, the straight portion of the flow channel 71 on the ejection hole 71a side is disposed at a predetermined angle with respect to the vertical line. Install.

  Next, by operating the damper 42 and supplying air to the chamber 41, the air is ejected from the opening of the fixing ring 13, and the air ejector from the pipe joint 72 of the speed adjusting air ejector 7 of the travel starter 1. The glass plate w is disposed above the aluminum frame 12 of the travel starter 1 in a state where air is supplied to the main body 70 and air whose pressure is adjusted is ejected from the ejection hole 71a.

Then, the glass plate w has its lower surface entirely supported by the air ejected from the opening of the fixing ring 13 and floated, and the ejection holes are formed in the central portion and both end portions of the lower surface of the conveyance path in the width direction. Since air ejected from the 71a in the transport direction is blown, the air is gradually accelerated and transported toward the traveling unit 2 without being bent.
For this reason, immediately after the operation of the damper 42, the damper 52 is operated, and air is supplied to the air ejector main body 70 from the pipe joint 72 of the speed adjustment air ejector 7 on the travel starter 1 side of the travel unit 2.

  Thereby, since the glass plate w conveyed to the traveling unit 2 is conveyed toward the traveling stop unit 3 while being floated, immediately after supplying air to the air ejector main body 70 on the traveling stop unit 3 side, the damper 62 is operated, and air is supplied to the air ejector body 70 of the travel stop unit 3. Then, the glass plate w supplied from the traveling unit 2 to the traveling stop unit 3 is gradually decelerated and stopped.

  Next, the relationship between the angle of the air ejector main body 70 of the above-described levitation transfer apparatus and the acceleration of the glass plate w was examined. In addition, the following measurement is performed by transporting the same glass plate w having an outer shape of 1950 mm × 2250 mm and a thickness of 0.7 mm by the levitating transport device including the travel activation unit 1 having a length in the transport direction of 1000 mm or more. It was. Further, the air pressure ejected from the ejection hole 71a of the air ejector main body 70 was kept constant, and the air pressure ejected from the aluminum frame 12 was kept constant.

First, the handle 82b is driven to rotate, and all the ejector bodies 70 are arranged so that the angle θ with respect to the vertical line of the straight portion of the flow path 71 on the ejection hole 71a side is 15 °, and the damper 42 is operated. Thus, air is ejected from the opening of the fixing ring 13 and air is supplied to the air ejector main body 70 from the pipe joint 72 of the speed adjusting air ejector 7 of the travel starter 1.
Next, the glass plate w is disposed above the aluminum frame 12 and transported forward in the transport direction while being floated, and the elapsed time when passing through the 500 mm point and when moving from the point to the 1000 mm point. The elapsed time was measured and plotted in FIG. 11 and FIG.

  Similarly, the handle 82b is driven to rotate so that the angle θ with respect to the vertical line of the straight portion of the flow passage 71 on the side of the ejection hole 71a of all the ejector main bodies 70 is 30 °, 45 °, 60 °, and 75 °. The elapsed time when passing through the 500 mm point of the glass plate w and the elapsed time when moving from there to the 1000 mm point were measured, respectively, and plotted in FIG. 11 and FIG.

As can be seen from FIGS. 11 and 12, in both cases, the elapsed time when passing through the 500 mm point is less than 12 seconds, and the elapsed time when moving from there to the 1000 mm point is less than 2.0 seconds. Yes, the glass plate could be conveyed relatively quickly.
In particular, when the angle θ is 30 °, 45 °, and 60 °, the elapsed time when passing through the 500 mm point is 6 seconds or more and less than 10 seconds, and the elapsed time when moving from there to the 1000 mm point. 0.9 seconds or more and less than 1.4 seconds. For this reason, when the angle θ is 30 ° or more and 60 ° or less, the glass plate w can be quickly conveyed even when the levitation conveyance device is enlarged and the conveyance path becomes long. it can.

  According to the levitating and conveying apparatus of the above-described embodiment, the glass plate w can be levitated by the air ejected from the air ejection holes formed in the aluminum frame 12 through the porous pad, and the speed adjusted air ejection By adjusting the angle of the ejector body 70 of the container 7 by the rotation mechanism 8 and adjusting the air pressure supplied to the pipe joint 72, the acceleration can be finely adjusted with the glass plate w directed in the transport direction. For this reason, the glass plate w can be conveyed without increasing the amount of air ejection unnecessarily.

  At that time, by installing the air ejector body 70 so that the straight line portion of the flow channel 71 on the ejection hole 71a side is disposed at an angle of 15 ° or more and 75 ° or less. The glass plate w can be accelerated quickly.

  Further, the glass plate w can be floated by the air jetted from the jet holes 32a formed in the deck board 32, and the angle of the jet body 70 of the speed adjusting air jet 7 is adjusted, and the pipe joint By adjusting the air pressure supplied to 72, the degree of deceleration of the glass plate w can be finely adjusted.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, the travel activation unit 1 may be provided with a horizontal plate including a deck board 32 or the like instead of the aluminum frame 12. Similarly, the travel unit 2 and the travel stop unit 3 may be provided with an aluminum frame 12 instead of the deck boards 22 and 32. Further, the resin sheet laid on the travel stop unit 3 may be disposed on the deck boards 22 and 32 disposed in the travel start unit 1 and the travel unit 2, and instead of the resin sheet, the deck board 22, At least a surface portion of 32 may be formed of a resin plate for preventing scratches on the glass plate w such as Teflon.

It is a plane whole view of the levitation conveyance device of the best embodiment. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of FIG. FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a travel starter 1. It is IV-IV sectional drawing of FIG. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the travel stop part 3 It is VI-VI sectional drawing of FIG. It is a top view of 1 unit of the speed adjustment air ejector. FIG. 8 is a front view of FIG. 7. It is IX-IX sectional drawing of FIG. It is XX sectional drawing of FIG. When the angle θ with respect to the vertical line of the straight line portion of the flow path 71 on the ejection hole 71a side is 15 °, 30 °, 45 °, 60 °, and 75 °, the glass plate w passes through the 500 mm point toward the front in the transport direction. It is the line graph which plotted each elapsed time to do. When the angle θ with respect to the vertical line of the straight part of the flow path 71 on the ejection hole 71a side is 15 °, 30 °, 45 °, 60 °, 75 °, the glass plate w moves to the 1000 point after passing the 500 mm point. It is the line graph which plotted the elapsed time at the time of doing.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Travel start part 2 Travel part 3 Travel stop part 7 Speed adjustment air ejector 8 Rotation mechanism 12 Aluminum frame (plate)
22, 32 Deck board (plate)
23, 33 Bottomed cylinder (plate)
22a, 32a Ejection hole 70 Air ejector body 71a Ejection hole w Glass plate

Claims (3)

In a levitation conveyance device that conveys a thin plate-shaped object to be conveyed along a conveyance path,
An air ejection hole is formed on the plate disposed along the conveyance path to float the object to be conveyed over the entire surface, and air is ejected toward the lower surface of the object to be conveyed, A plurality of speed-adjusting air ejectors for accelerating / decelerating the object to be conveyed in the conveying direction are provided on the outside of the plate along the conveying path so as to be able to adjust the air ejection angle with respect to the object to be conveyed A floating transport device.   The speed adjusting air ejector is provided so as to eject air toward a traveling start portion of the transport path in a transport direction of the transported object, and the transported object is disposed at a travel stop portion of the transport path. The levitation conveyance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the levitation conveyance apparatus is provided so as to eject air toward the rear in the conveyance direction.   The speed adjustment air ejector of the travel activation unit is installed so that the air ejection direction is 15 ° or more and 75 ° or less with respect to the direction orthogonal to the surface of the plate. The levitation conveyance apparatus according to claim 2.

Images